Following his arrest, the CBI presented the former principal before Kolkata’s Alipore Court on Tuesday, where he was subsequently remanded to eight days of police custody.The CBI argued that Ghosh and the vendors were part of a “larger nexus” involving corruption. “There is a larger nexus that needs to be probed,” CBI counsel Rambabu Kanojia had argued.”The scope of the offence is extensive. We need to gather further evidence, and additional offences may surface during the investigation,” he added.And on Wednesday, Ghosh faced public outrage upon his arrival at the Alipore court, where demonstrators greeted him with chants of “Dhik-dhik dhikkar (Shame! Shame!)” and “chor chor (thief).”The CBI team swiftly escorted Ghosh and the others into the courtroom, closing the main entrance to prevent protesters from entering.Inside the courtroom, a group of women lawyers verbally confronted Ghosh, with one of them reportedly delivering a slap to his face.Ghosh resigned as the principal of RG Kar Medical College two days after the body of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was found inside a seminar hall on August 9.However, the state government promptly appointed him as the principal of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, prompting backlash from students. He was eventually asked to go on leave after the Calcutta High Court intervened and questioned his reappointment.On Tuesday, the West Bengal government suspended Ghosh following his arrest by the CBI on allegations of financial misconduct, based on a complaint by the hospital’s former deputy superintendent, Dr. Akhtar Ali.Ali had approached the High Court amid public speculation about whether the alleged widespread corruption at RG Kar Medical College was connected to the trainee doctor’s death, with suggestions that the victim might have been aware of and threatened to expose the corruption.Ali also claimed that his complaints to the state vigilance commission and anti-corruption bureau about Ghosh, filed over a year ago, had yielded little result and led to his own transfer from the institution.In his plea to the High Court, Ali accused Ghosh of illegal sales of unclaimed corpses, trafficking of biomedical waste, and awarding tenders in exchange for bribes from medicine and medical equipment suppliers. He also alleged that students were pressured to pay between Rs 5 and 8 lakhs to pass exams.Ghosh served as principal of RG Kar Medical College from February 2021 to September 2023. He was transferred from RG Kar in October of that year but was inexplicably reinstated within a month and held the position until the day the trainee doctor was found murdered.Meanwhile, two prominent doctors in the state resigned from the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC), citing the body’s inaction against Sandip Ghosh even after complaints had been filed against him.Dr. Dipanjan Bandhyopadhyay, head of the Department of Medicine at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, and Dr. Suman Mukhopadhyay submitted their resignations on Wednesday.In their resignation letters, they expressed shock over the murder and rape of the trainee doctor inside the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.They cited a series of allegations and counter-allegations emerging from the investigation, which have implicated some WBMC members. To preserve the integrity and reputation of the WBMC, they deemed it necessary to resign from the organisation.
Source link
